Tag: VT

Categories
Music

Jer Coons, Back at Higher Ground

Last Friday, in the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, Jer Coons returned home to play for his friends & family. Opening for him were Seth Glier

and Jesse Ruben.

We didn’t hear about the show until the middle of the week, so I suspect that’s why the room wasn’t sold out. (Jer has a history of selling out the Showcase Lounge.)

After Jesse Ruben finished his set, the lights went down, the stage was prepped, and quietly, the band took their places. Sans Jer, they started into a driving rendition of the 2001 theme music and  Jer took the stage wearing a space suit.

And cowboy boots.

As he jumped into “Speak”

the crowd stared on in awe.

Clint Bierman hung out in the shadows, par for the course.

Peter Day brought out the upright bass.

Jamie Bright killed it on the keys.

and Jeff Vallone largely avoided my lens for the night. (Sorry Jeff!)

These are but a selection from the full gallery of photos from the evening.

Nice to see you back in town, Jer!  Looking forward to the next show. Give us a few more days notice next time, we’ll spread the word!

Categories
Nature Photograph

Before and After: Flooding on Vermont’s Winooski River

A few weeks ago, I walked down to the Winooski River on the boarder between Williston and Essex. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to walk around, but somehow I had never stopped until that day. I was surprised to see that you can walk all the way down onto the rocks and “in” to the river. I walked down pretty far and scrambled over the rocks, looking for the shot I had in my head. I’m not sure I found it, but it was a fun experience.

Yesterday, after two days of heavy rain all across Vermont, my commute was redirected because of flooding and I passed by the same spot.  I had to stop. The contrast to just two weeks ago was astounding. It looked like we had been transported back to April or May with the spring runoff raging down the river.

You see those rocks straight across the river? That’s where I was standing for the above picture.  For the photograph below, I was standing just to the right of the building in the photo above.

I’ll finish off the post with a panoramic photo snapped on that day a few weeks ago. The river almost looks like a pleasant place to hop in with an innertube and float towards Lake Champlain (well — except for the knowledge that there are a few dams and waterfalls along the way…)

Categories
Family Photograph Portraits

Outdoor Family Photographs on a Beautiful Vermont Morning

This past Saturday, I spent the morning at Oakledge Park in Burlington with Courtney, Kinsley, Andrew, and Connor . We had a great time wandering around the park, taking a combination of posed and candid photos. When you have an almost four year old involved, you never know what you’re going to get, but both kids were in good moods, very well behaved, and we had a great time making some photos.

We started on the swings, spidering, which turns out to be one of Kinsley’s favorites things to do. It was a good way to relax and get into the swing of taking some photos.

Then we settled into some posed photographs for a little while

Totally unprompted, and they struck almost exactly the same pose.

If you go to Oakledge, you can’t miss out on the giant treehouse, so we headed up there next.

What’s Cody drawing in the sand?

“I love you, Dad” of course.  What a great kid!

I think this is my favorite series from the whole day!

It’s hard to argue with a quote like this, “The pics are SOOO great THANK YOU!!!!  It really was fun shooting pics! The best part was the kids thought so too!”  I had a great time, too, Courtney!  Thanks for the opportunity to hang out with you and make some great photos.

Categories
Music Photograph Portraits

Portraits for a San Francisco based, but Vermont bred, musician

Early last month — you remember, then the temperatures were in the mid 90’s and the humidity matched — I connected up with Miranda Ferriss Jones to take some photos for her upcoming album. She was back in town visiting her family and had a vision for some photos contrasting the vintage dresses she performs in with the rustic farmhouse, barn, and tractor she grew up with. So, Tawny & I hopped in the car and drove down to Monkton from Burlington. It was a welcome road trip because it meant we had a brief reprieve from the heat in the car’s AC! We spent a couple of hours walking around using a few locations, one of which included the upper floor of the old barn which had to be well over 100° and filled with bat guano. Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun and came up with a variety of looks.

If you haven’t heard of Miranda before, I recommend visiting her site. She described herself as a singer-songwriter when she contacted me, but it’s a bit of a misnomer. While she writes and performs her own material, she’s got a heavy Jazz influence which is quite refreshing in today’s world of mediocre pop. Give her a listen!

It was nice to meet & work with you, Miranda.  Best of luck with the new album; I’m looking forward to hearing it!

Categories
Art Nature Photograph

Quiet Morning in Vermont

I woke up this morning with a laundry list of tasks to finish.  Paint some trim, prep some doorways, patch some drywall, mow the lawn.  It’s humid here in Vermont; the gentle rains last night and the morning dew meant that I couldn’t yet mow the lawn.  Those same rains left some treasures on the irises that line my driveway, so after doing a little sanding, I took some time to appreciate the little things in life. I have photographed these plants and droplets in the past, but somehow they never get old to me.

Drop of water on an iris leaf

Vermont mornings provide beautiful droplets after a night of gentle showers.

I remain perpetually fascinated at how perfectly round the water droplets are some mornings, and how on other mornings they cling with all their might, flattening down to hug the leaves.

If you like these, please take a look at some of my other macro & floral photography, or look at my general gallery of artistic photos.